November 2013 CSC MeetAuthor: Mark Montijo

Great meeting with a lot of information especially regarding TRAL. I counted 26 in attendance with the following break down of trucks:

40 Series - 3

60 Series - 1

62 Series - 1 (Redmuttonchops this one for you)

80 Series and LX450 - 15

100 Series - 1

FJC - 3

Tacoma - 1

4Runner - 1

The night started out with Murf starting the meeting and introduced a few new members: Greg having brought his hundy and Tim with his FJC.

Thomas (LongDuck) spoke of the ROTM happening the next day and reviewed the agenda. A number of those in attendance were planning on going. Look forward to seeing the pictures.

ROTM (run of the month) was decided and Aram stepped up to the plate and named the run to be Crown King. Aram has already posted this run so check it out. Good run for this time of the year.

TRAL update was given by Kevin P (Tools R Us) and include very positive and encouraging news. With so much good news it was hard to capture everything he said but took this from another post by him."Travel Management: It looks like the motorized trail concept, that we have been fighting/lobbying for, is going to happen! In a nutshell, all full sized routes on the map were designated as "roads". Roads are required to be rated for type/level of travel and engineered, maintained to that level, most often by grader. There are two main categories of roads; open to the public and administrative use only. The motorized trail designation removes the requirements for rating, engineering and maintenance done by certified personal. In other words, motorized trails can be maintained by the OHV community, somewhat to the level that they see fit".

In addition:"This hasn't been announced, but, looks to be the new plan. A large percentage of the "roads" are being changed to motorized trails and even bigger; some of the administrative use only routes are also being switched, opening lots of trail to the public! This is HUGE to all OHV users on Tonto! Hopefully it will be successful and spread to other Forests/agencies".

More info:TRAL is becoming actively involved with the ADAT (Adopt -A- Trail) program and Kevin summarize this from out last TRAL meeting. "The grant: Looks to be in the last administrative steps, so,we will have full funding for the new ADAT program! Jeff was there and was very positive about this and funding future projects! He will be returning to put on a presentation at the Dec meeting".

Mark (CFISH) and Don (Puulboy) presented information on HAM radios and surprising enough one could get into it for a relatively low cost which would include $15.00 for the test and about $50.00 for a hand held unit in which had and showed us it. This is another alternate to the CB and the range is exceptional. A number of members already have there license and there are a number that have the interest of obtaining their license. We asked that they post some steps to take to obtain the license and other info that would come in handy. I believe the test consists of 35 questions and can be taken at various locations around the valley.

Some more meeting pics and Mark (CFISH) displaying the hand held Ham unit.